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When we first heard the shocking news Sunday morning of the tragic death of Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez in a boating accident, a moment of silence was the inevitable expectation. However, the Mets did more to show their respect to Fernandez, who was scheduled to start Monday.

METS SHOW RESPECT

Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon had a Mets’ jersey designed with Fernandez’s name and No. 16 designed and suggested Yoenis Cespedes – a fellow Cuban – hang it in the dugout during the game.

The Mets will hang it in their dugout for their three-game series with the Marlins. It was an uncommon gesture of compassion.

In a blistering sense of irony, Fernandez was originally scheduled to start for the Marlins Sunday against Atlanta. Had he not been pushed back a day, he wouldn’t have been on that boat.

While Sunday was highly emotional, it will pale in comparison to Monday when the Marlins play their first game at home (their game Sunday against Atlanta was scheduled). With six games remaining, the Mets hold a one-game lead over St. Louis and San Francisco for the wild-card, while the Marlins trail by 4.5 games. So, there is a lot to play for by both teams.

While the Mets have shown, and will undoubtedly display this week the proper respect, they still have a job to complete.

“Obviously, when we get down there, we will have a meeting – we will get together – so that we keep things in perspective,” Collins said. “It’s going to be really a tough night for a lot of people. Certainly, we lost a great player, but the respect for the game itself – and he had it – it’s got to be played, and it’s got to be played right.

“Because I know that’s how Jose would want to do it. That’s how he would want it played. And so we’ve got to keep that in our minds also.”

Fernandez’s tragic death was the unfortunate storyline on this day. The others were Robert Gsellman’s start and Jay Bruce’s possible revival were the others.

GSELLMAN’S BEST START: The Mets used 27 pitchers in the first three games of their series against Philadelphia and desperately needed a strong start from Gsellman. They certainly didn’t expect seven scoreless innings, which on a normal day would have headlined the 17-0 rout.

“Our bullpen was shot,” Collins said. “When you run 27 pitchers out in three games, you’re out of gas. It was nice to be able to have comfortable innings at the end of the game.”

Assuming the Mets reach the NL Division Series against the Cubs, they’ll go with a four-man rotation with Gsellman fourth in line. That’s one of the reasons why Collins extended him to 107 pitches.

“Hopefully, we get to the postseason. He’s got to be a part of it,” Collins said. “I thought it was really, really important to build him up to the 100 pitches, so whether he throws 70 or 75 pitches in a playoff game, it’s easier for him.”

BRUCE DELIVERS: Bruce, who hit a pinch-homer the previous night, started for the second time in eight games, went 2-for-4 and scored two runs.

He got the Mets going when he doubled and scored in the second inning. You have to figure that to keep Bruce going he’ll start Monday in Miami.

Terry Collins spoke glowingly of how proud he was of his team; how the Mets showed no quit. Down by ten early, the Mets battled back to put the tying runs on base in the ninth.

What would have been the greatest comeback in Mets’ history was within grasp when Lucas Duda came to the plate.

CECCHINI: Big night for rookie. (AP)

“I thought Duda would hit a home run there to win it,” the Mets’ manager said.

He didn’t, and when Travis d’Arnaud grounded back to the mound, an exhilarating comeback had fizzled and the Mets’ 10-8 loss to Philadelphia was complete and a chance to open up ground in the tight NL wild-card race was lost.

Collins’ bench gave the Mets – or, if you prefer, the Las Vegas 51s – a chance to win, but it couldn’t overcome the hole dug by spot starter Sean Gilmartin and reliever Rafael Montero.

Gilmartin started because Noah Syndergaard was out with a strep throat. The Mets have been living on borrowed time with their rotation for a couple of months now, and tonight it caught up with them.

There were a lot of good things that came out of the night, but in the end, during a taut pennant race, there is no such thing as moral victories.

Not only was there a Michael Conforto sighting tonight, but he carried the Mets with a three-run homer and double. He did what the Mets have hoped since May. With how they are ignoring Jay Bruce, you have to wonder if Terry Collins plans to use Conforto for the remainder of the season to groom him for the postseason.

A double and homer is a great way to stay in the lineup.

CONFORTO: He does exist. (AP)

“It changes it a lot,” Collins said about his plans for Conforto. “What we saw tonight is what we’ve used to seeing. We’ll give him another shot and see how he responds [Saturday].”

Should Conforto hit again tomorrow, it’s pretty hard to imagine Bruce getting another start soon, and a likely bit-player for the postseason.

Conforto had a hot April – Collins projected him as the Mets’ No. 3 hitter of the future – but after going into a slump in mid-May, spent a lot of time on the Vegas shuttle, but despite playing well in the minors, he’s played sparingly since coming back.

“I’ve been sticking with my drills and staying locked in mentally,” said Conforto on how he’s tried to stay sharp despite seemingly needing a GPS to find the plate.

Conforto laid off a couple of tempting pitches, then went the other way to break open the game with a three-run homer in the fifth to power the Mets to a 10-5 victory over Philadelphia.

So, in answer to the question whether Thursday’s dramatic victory had a magical carry-over effect, let’s say, tonight was a decent encore.

Conforto was the easy main storyline, with the others being the patchwork pitching and Asdrubal Cabrera’s leg injury.

BULLPEN CARRIES BIG LOAD: Spot starter Gabriel Ynoa gave the Mets two innings (43 pitches), which could make him available for Saturday with Noah Syndergaard not available because of a strep throat.

The game’s turning point came with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh and the Mets up by two, but Robles got pinch-hitter Tommy Joseph to ground into an inning-ending double play, with Jose Reyes making a nifty pick-up and throw.

Greetings on the day after the latest Mets’ miracle. There have been times in my coverage of the Mets – which began in 2006 (and since 1998 overall of New York baseball) – where I have been called a curmudgeon, which is not entirely untrue.

I try to take more of a down-the-middle approach in my emotional perspective of the team. I don’t get too high or too low, and believe I’ve fulfilled my responsibility if there’s a balance between those who like my stuff and those who hate me.

COLLINS: Will he be smiling in a week? (AP)

There are times, I admit, when I take the hatred as a compliment.

Either way, after the Asdrubal Cabrera’s game-winner last night, the bottom line is the Mets remain tied with San Francisco and hold a slim lead over the Cardinals for the wild-card. Cabrera’s moment in Mets’ history is contingent on how this all plays out.

Will it be a Super Nova or a star that forever burns bright, like the ball that got by Bill Buckner?

It’s just stardust if the Mets fade and don’t make it; it’s special if they go on to win the World Series. The moment loses luster if they don’t run the table.

Can we agree this business of the Mets’ schedule giving them an advantage is nonsense if they don’t capitalize? Let’s face it, without Cabrera last night, and what Jose Reyes did shortly before, they would have lost four straight home games to sub-.500 teams.

The remaining schedule is largely irrelevant because: 1) those teams would love nothing more than to put it to these uppity New Yorkers; 2) those players are competing for 2017 jobs; 3) September call-ups add an unknown element to the stew; and, 4) after this weekend the last six games are on the road.

For those who insist the schedule means something, if the beginning of this week didn’t convince you, try this, if the Mets don’t make the playoffs, the biggest statistic working against them is that 26 of their 72 losses (36 percent) have been against sub-.500 Atlanta (10), Colorado (6), Philadelphia (5) and Arizona (5).

They lost another six to Miami, whom they play three games next week on the road.

Perhaps the Mets were due to win last night. Sometimes the odds work in their favor. But, was it magic? I wouldn’t go that far.

After all, there have been several times this season when it would have been easy to conclude they turned it around.

After a sluggish start, they closed April by winning 11 of 12 games, but limped through May with seven losses against cupcakes Atlanta, San Diego and Colorado.

They lost five games in June to the Braves and were swept in a three-game series in Washington to finish that month only four games over .500. The Mets appeared to turn it around with a four-game sweep of the Cubs in July, but gave up that momentum by losing three of four at home to the Nationals heading into the break.

You’ll recall manager Terry Collins saying it was “essential we play well,” in the stretch entering the break and coming out for the second half. They entered the break six games over .500 but ended July only four games over.

The Mets nose-dived to two games under in mid-August before Bartolo Colon stopped the hemorrhaging by beating the Giants in San Francisco. They went 9-2 to close August to give their season alive.

Bad luck offset by good? Perhaps. But, Lugo has been brought down a peg and Reed and Familia have taken their lumps.

Wilmer Flores helped carry the team for a while, but hasn’t played in over a week because of a bad wrist (Collins took the hit for that by saying he should have used a pinch-runner). The Jay Bruce trade did not work out, but was offset by the resurgence of power from Curtis Granderson.

Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes spent time on the disabled list, but came off smoking. Cespedes is now mired in a slump, although he came through with a big hit last night.

Just when you think the Mets are dead and buried, they do something to justify how they’ve been historically characterized – Amazing. They do something to pull us closer to them; to steal our emotions after we’ve said “never again.”

CABRERA: Pulls us back. (AP)

On the heels of an excruciatingly draining loss the previous night when Yoenis Cespedes’ was denied a game-winning home run, the Mets twice climbed out of the abyss to pick up their beleaguered bullpen to beat Philadelphia, 9-8, in 11 innings.

Like cockroaches and Keith Richards, the Mets refuse to be killed. Down two in the ninth, Jose Reyes tied it with a one-out, two-run drive off Jeanmar Gomez.

The Mets later fell behind by two again in the 11th inning against closer Jeurys Familia, but they quickly responded in the bottom of the inning against Philadelphia reliever Edubray Ramos when Michael Conforto walked, Reyes singled and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a homer that might have saved the Mets’ season.

If the Mets go on to go far in the playoffs, or even win the World Series, it will be a defining moment in their season.

“We always keep our head up,” Cabrera said. “We’re pushing all the time. … As soon as I hit it I knew it would be out.”

All season the Mets lived and died with the home run. It was how they are defined. They thrived on the long ball tonight with three more – Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer in the second – that brought them again to the emotional top.

How long they will sustain it is anybody’s guess.

Undoubtedly, the comeback was tonight’s main storyline, with the others being the bullpen and Seth Lugo’s rough start.

BULLPEN TAKES BEATING: How the Mets navigated the last two innings has been their strength all season. You could even make an argument the Addison Reed-Familia duo has been the most valuable aspect of their team.

It hasn’t been that way this week, as their late-inning bullpen has been torched for 17 runs after the seventh inning in the last four games.

Five of those runs were charged to Reed, who uncharacteristically gave up a three-run homer to Maikel Franco in the eighth inning. Three more were against Familia.

There are few – if any – Mets who have done their jobs this year better than Reed and Familia. Tonight the long ball saved them.

LUGO HAS ROUGH START: Eventually, reality would catch up with Lugo. It did when the Phillies’ Ryan Howard and Cameron Rupp hit back-to-back homers on consecutive pitches to open the fifth.

Lugo had given the Mets at least six innings in four of his last six starts, but Thursday gave us three runs on four hits and two walks in five innings. Normally pitch efficient, Lugo threw 87 tonight.

Even so, with the news Steven Matz is likely done for the year, should the Mets reach the NL Division Series, he’ll be their No. 3 starter.